Acta Medica Medianae (Dec 2009)
CHANGES IN LIPID PARAMETERS AND ANTROPOMETRIC INDICATORS OF DIETING DURING THE PERIOD OF INTENSIVE PREPARATIONS OF TOP ATHLETES
Abstract
Physical exercise is a planned and repeated exercise aiming to maintain and improve one or more aspects of physical condition. Increased sympathetic-adrenal activity and reduction of insulin concentration are the main stimuli of lipolysis during physical activity.The aim of this study was to investigate acute and chronic effects of intensive aerobic training program on lipid profile and antropometric parameters in young healthy soccer players.Fifteen healthy male (soccer players, average age 21.4±3.6) were included in this study. Soccer players had a minimum of 6 months continuous training that consisted of three training sessions per week. They did not smoke, take drugs or drink alcohol during the examination period. A balanced diet (60% carbohydrates, 25% lipids and 15% proteins) was recommended by a nutritionist as a standard diet during the preparations period. This consisted of three repetitions of 20-min running sessions, with two 3-min breaks in-between. Target load was obtained at 120–140 bpm heart rate. Anthropometric estimation comprized determination of body fat % by impendansometer Omron BF306, body height (BH), body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), waist/hip ratio (WHR) and determination of body mass index (BMI=BW/BH2). Blood samples were taken prior to and 5-10 min after completion of exercise. Biochemical investigation comprized spectrophotometric determination of total cholesterol (TC), triglicerides (TG), HDL-C and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). There was a significant reduction of body fat content % after 6 months of intensive physical preparation (p<0.05), but not of BMI and BW. There were no signifficant changes in waist circumference and WHR values at the end of physical preparation compared to the values from the beginning. There were not significant changes in TC and TG levels at the end of 6 months preparations; however significant changes in lipid fractions were present. There was a significant decrease in LDL-C levels and an obvious increase of HDL-C at the end of the preparations. The acute changes in lipid parameters comprised significant increase of TC and HDL-C, while there were no significant changes in LDL-C and TG levels.The results of this study demonstrate that a well balanced physical training of soccer players leads to significant changes in lipid profile but no changes in body mass. This type of training also decreases percentage of total body fat.
